His father Aaron was a Jewish mathematician from Belarus; his first wife, children, and all of his relatives were killed during the Holocaust.

In January 1969, he learnt from listening to Western radio broadcast — then illegal in the USSR — of the self-immolation of Czechoslovak student Jan Palach.

On 13 April 1969, Rips, then a graduate student at the University of Latvia, attempted self-immolation in a protest against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

After unwrapping a self-made slogan condemning the occupation of Czechoslovakia he lit a candle and set his gasoline-soaked clothes ablaze.

A group of bystanders was able to quickly put the fire out, resulting only in burns to Rips' neck and hands.

In 1979, Rips received the Erdős Prize from the Israel Mathematical Society, and was a sectional speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1994.

"[5] Since Drosnin's book, Bible codes have been a subject of controversy, with the claims being criticized by Brendan McKay and others.

[8] The 1997 "Ig Nobel Prize for Literature" was awarded to Eliyahu Rips, Doron Witztum, Yoav Rosenberg, and Michael Drosnin, for their work on Bible codes.